By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Western State University lifted the state of financial emergency it had declared over two years ago by a unanimous vote of the Board of Governors.
University president Elizabeth Kennedy looks back on that challenging time, saying drastic actions were needed in order to protect the school's future.
"Had we not done that, there's very good reason to believe the University would not have survived," Kennedy told KFEQ's The Hotline. "I know those are difficult things for people to hear and it's difficult for us to experience, but it's the reality of where we were."
While being in a state of financial emergency isn't easy, Kennedy said it did bring a sense of needed stability in some ways.
"I'm happy to say we've had balanced budgets at the University for the last two years," she said. "That's something that hadn't happened for quite some time, in terms of making sure everything was budgeted."
The financial state of emergency was put in place in March of 2020. Of course, history shows that wasn't the only challenge Missouri Western was faced with at the time.
"Here's a major task you're faced with in bringing the University out of financial emergency," Kennedy recalled, "and oh by the way, let's just a pandemic on top, right? It caused stress yes, but I have to say we worked very quickly with the COVID situation."
Roughly 35 non-faculty positions were eliminated at the University before the spring of 2020, but Kennedy says no further cuts were needed after the financial emergency was in place and even after the pandemic had started.
"After that initial announcement in the spring of 2020, we did not lay off other staff or faculty for reasons of financial emergency."
With the University now operating at a mostly normal, in-person pace, and the financial emergency lifted, Kennedy sees light at the end of the tunnel, but acknowledges the work doesn't stop here.
"We're still struggling to get as much revenue from the state to work with our partners to look at ways to be innovative, nimble and creative in terms of what we're doing in providing the students who are coming to Missouri Western with the opportunities to launch into their career paths they're looking for, whether that's in the work place or in graduate school."
Getting enrollment numbers up is also a key focus, as lower enrollment was a key factor in getting into a financial emergency in the first place.
The number of admitted freshmen for fall 2022 is up 38.3 percent compared to this time a year ago, and Griffon Orientation numbers are up 145 percent.
Additionally, Missouri Western's cash balance has risen from $8.6 million in 2019 to $23.2 million at the end of FY2021, and that number is projected to increase this year as well.
The work does not stop, Kennedy says, but the University can now see a brighter path forward with the cloud of financial emergency no longer hanging over them.
"I think the future is truly very bright," Kennedy stated. "I think we can contribute to our community, our students, to their families, to their lives in ways you need a four-year university to do. So, I'm very proud we're headed in that direction."
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